Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an image stabilizing apparatus, and more particularly to an image stabilizing apparatus configured to assist follow shot imaging.
Description of the Related Art
The follow shot imaging technology expresses a speed sense of a moving object. The follow shot makes the moving object stationary and the background flow when a photographer pans the camera in accordance with the motion of the object.
The photographer needs to pan the camera in accordance with the motion of the object in the follow shot imaging. However, the object image blurs when the panning velocity is too fast or too slow and there is a difference between the moving velocity of the object and the panning velocity. The follow shot imaging assist technology is one solution for this problem for a user, which provides a method for absorbing the difference between the moving velocity of the object and the panning velocity using a movement of the shift lens.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. (“JP”) 2006-317848 discloses a configuration that provides the follow shot imaging by detecting an object based on a blur detection through a gyro sensor and a motion vector in an image, by calculating a correction amount used to dispose the detected object at the center of the image, and by moving an optical axis shift lens for corrections.
As the technology of detecting the motion vector in the image, a method for detecting the motion vector is proposed by comparing continuously captured images with one another. JP 8-88855 proposes a method for comparing pixel values of a reference block and a candidate block as block matching objects used to detect a motion vector in a search area by shifting a position of the candidate block.
However, according to the prior art disclosed in JP 2006-317848 and JP 8-88855, when an object is smaller than a predetermined size, only a small number of reference blocks are used to detect the motion vector and the reliability of the motion vector to the object becomes lower. When an image stabilizing apparatus assists the follow shot imaging, the correction precision of the object blur may lower and the object blur may not be reduced.